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Environmental committee discusses bill prohibiting breeding whales and dolphins

The bill would also prohibit transporting marine animals or cetaceans to another state or country.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Hard to believe but a controversial bill banning the sale and breeding of whales and dolphins was up for discussion at the state capitol Friday.

Scientists with the Mystic Aquarium say the legislation would halt their research.

President of Mystic Aquarium Steve Coan was one of the few to take a stand against the bill. He believes this bill would limit their ability to do research that would end the extinction of sea-life like dolphins and their iconic Beluga Whales.  

The research, as Coan argues, is focused on studying pregnancy trends for the whales and dolphins. This information would help preserve the breeds in the future. 

"We have to have a cohort of whales in our facility in order to do the research that we're doing. That research is non-invasive and it's really focused on trying to end the extinction of whales in the wild," said Coan. 

The bill would also prohibit transporting marine animals or cetaceans to another state or country. 

Mystic Aquariums chief scientist Tracy Romano believes moving the animals can be good since they deal with environmental risks like pollution and climate change. 

"It would actually cause of all our results to be null in-void with the type of research that we're trying to do," said Romano. "We're really trying to understand reproduction and health and the immune system."

Those pushing the bill, like state representative David Michel (146th District - Stamford) disagrees with the aquarium's stance. He believes that the cetaceans are feeling trapped and distresses.  

"They call it a habitat. I mentioned a tank. but we can call it a bathtub and I don't think any of us as human beings would enjoy being taken away from our families or just swimming in circles in a concrete tank," said Michel. 

Naomi Rose with the Animal Welfare institute traveled far to show support for this bill. While she says she is not attacking the aquarium's research, she feels they do not need to bring in more beluga whales for their testing.  

"These are wide-ranging, deep-diving intelligent social predators and we've put them in a box and no matter how well-appointed that box is, no matter how good the care in that box is, it's a box," said Rose. 

The bill is still in its preliminary stages and was only discussed in the environmental committee. If passed, it would not be enacted until October 2020. 

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